In the End We'd Be Laughing
by thegoldhat
Summary: An assortment of TroyGabriella oneshots. Chapter one: Gabriella finds herself obsessing over a certain popstar, much to Troy's dismay. Chapter two: Sharpay Evans decides all basketball players need sparkly pink birthday parties.
1. Hannah Montana

_Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical or Hannah Montana. _

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Gabriella calmly put her cell phone away in awe after having a brief conversation with her mother.

"I can't believe it." She looked blankly at the space in front of her.

"Me neither," Troy mumbled, holding his head in his hands. He sighed and turned to face his girlfriend that he knew was practically screaming on the inside.

"I can't believe it."

"I can't believe you like _Hannah Montana_, Gabriella. You're seventeen for goodness sake."

"Can't you be a bit more excited for me Troy? My mother just got me tickets to Hannah Montana's concert. And you will come with me, right? You can't let me go and enjoy Hannah all by myself."

"Of course I can. All that much Hannah-fun for you." He suggested lamely. No way was Troy Bolton, basketball captain of the East High Wildcats, was going to show up at Hannah-pop sensation-Montana's concert with a girlfriend screeching 'I love you, Miley' by his side. He'd take Gabriella shopping. He'd even carry her purse as she went through numerous articles of clothing.

He had to draw the line somewhere.

Gabriella pouted, looking up at Troy with sad eyes.

"Troy, the Jonas Brothers are going to be there too."

"Oh Gabriella," He started sarcastically. "You've found my weakness."

Troy felt like yanking out his hair, he promised himself he'd never give in to that look after the time when Gabriella used it to ask him to join the bake sale. 'Just make some cookies to help raise money for the Drama department, Troy' she had pleaded. 'Cookies. Fair enough.' he had thought. Later that day, Troy had almost caused his family to lose their house when he had created a small, accidental fire in the kitchen.

"You're sure your mother doesn't want to go too?"

"She's busy that day, Troy. Only you, my ever-so-wonderful boyfriend can take me."

"I'd go but," He put on an expression of mock disappointment. "Won't Taylor, you ever-so-wonderful best friend, be jealous that I get to go and she doesn't?"

"She's on a date with Chad that day." She grinned.

Troy scratched the back of his neck, running out of ideas. Chad had a way – a very successful way – of getting out of situations like this. Now if only he had been listening when his bushy-haired friend was talking. He contemplated the thought of faking an illness, but he couldn't do that to Gabriella. But he was also deathly scared of the idea of going to a tween concert.

"I just can't go, Gabriella. It'd be too …weird. I don't even like Miley Cyrus. What will the guys think of me if I go to her concert?"

"Remember what we learned last year, Troy?" Gabriella started; he knew she wasn't done with him yet.

"Learned what?" He stared at her quizzically.

"Don't be scared to try something new."

"I already know I don't like her songs. You sing them. A lot. And if I don't like your voice singing it, I know I won't like hers."

"When we auditioned for Twinkle Towne, we learned to not be ashamed to do what you love and not care about other people's thoughts of you; whether it's your classmates or a bunch of ten-year olds at a concert."

"But I'm not ashamed to do what _I_ like."

"So you're ashamed of what I like?"

"No – well, come on, Gabri –"

"Just forget it; I'll bring someone else."

Troy opened his mouth to object, but before he did he closed it before he'd say anything he'd regret. She'd probably end up going with a younger cousin or …someone.

Someone who'd enjoy the Disney pop songs much more than he would.

-

-

It was a bright and sunny Monday.

And Troy Bolton was enjoying it. His best Monday ever, he claimed. First period, he found out that he aced his Math test. Second period he found a five dollar bill underneath his desk. And now after third period, He found Gabriella happily skipping towards him, an overjoyed expression was evident. She happened to be humming. A Hannah Montana song he recognized.

"You get the best of both worlds…" She sang, happily.

"What did you say?" He imposed, struggling to find his History notebook.

"Oh nothing. Did you know Ryan's coming with me to the concert?" She chirped.

"What?" Troy dropped his books.

"I've found the inner Hannah fanatic in him. He's coming with me. We're going to have so much fun together …listening to Hannah …talking about Hannah …admiring Hannah …" She trailed off, sighing dreamily.

It was then when Ryan decided to come bouncing along, putting his arm around Gabriella's shoulders. They spontaneously broke out dancing and singing. Their voices echoed throughout the hallways of East High. Passerby's looked away; glad they didn't know and weren't embarrassed by the two. Gabriella laughed aloud, her messy brunette curls flying everywhere.

"Who said, who said I can't be superman?" Gabriella and Ryan trilled in unison, mimicking the latter's twin sister.

Troy glared at the two, supposedly having the time of their lives making fools of themselves. He felt …jealous as Gabriella sang some more, she had gotten a lot more outgoing since he'd met her. And Ryan had definitely stepped out of his sister's shadow; he was now free to do whatever he liked …including winning the heart of Troy's girlfriend by belting out Hannah Montana songs. They were dancing pretty close. Too close for Troy's liking. He slammed his locker shut, making the entire hallway silent. The singers looked at Troy with innocent eyes.

Ryan inquired, "What's wrong, Troy?" The blond looked carefree, shrugging his shoulders before looking at Troy with a defiant smile on his face.

"Are you okay? Sorry for singing too loud, I'm kind of excited." She blushed, breathless from the vocalizing she'd done earlier.

"Actually, your singing was awesome. I think I might appreciate Hannah Montana – I mean Miley Cyrus more now. The lyrics are just so …_amazing_." Troy forced out, gritting his teeth.

Ryan looked down, putting his hands in his pocket. "Then you should take the other ticket, Troy. You guys have a nice time together. Don't forget to tell me all about it. I want all the details." He waved good bye, and bolted away hastily.

Troy ignored Ryan and his quick departure. "So it's on a Saturday?" He asked Gabriella.

She beamed and nodded. "Don't be late picking me up, Troy." She pecked him on the lips, but before he could pull her closer, she ran as if scared he was going to change his mind about the concert.

-

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Three hours and a bunch of screaming fans after arriving at the concert, Troy Bolton was not a happy person.

He was sure he was permanently deaf in his left ear. And to his horror, halfway through the show, one of the guitar players _winked_ at Gabriella! His girlfriend Gabriella was _winked_ at when he was standing right there, next to her. The singer's accent still rang through his ears as he drove himself and Gabriella home. He hadn't remembered the last time he'd been to a concert, but this one was enough to traumatize him. His feet were sore from being stepped on countless times by fans who were determined to get as close as possible to the infamous singer, even if it meant being rude to people in the way.

And all his suffering was caused by Hannah freaking Montana.

Gabriella was still bouncing to a beat in the passenger's seat of his car. She couldn't look any happier. So maybe there was an upside to this. But just one, the rest of the trip had been torture.

"Wasn't that fun?"

"You mean, fun when you got _winked_ at?"

"Stop bringing that up. I'm never going to see him again. Besides, that meant nothing."

"Oh so guitar players are supposed to wink at every hot girl they see. I get it now." Troy huffed, "Wait – does that mean if you did see him again, you'd hook up with him and leave me in that stampede of fans who have lost their sanity listening to that crap?"

"Hannah is not crap, Troy. You think too much sometimes." The brunette sighed.

Guilt consumed Troy. He really wanted his girlfriend to make the best of this concert and he wasn't helping with the constant complaining.

"Maybe you should have just gone with Ryan." Troy confessed, keeping his eyes on the road, "I only wanted because I thought you guys would get close. And that's the only reason why I agreed to come, Gabriella. He would've enjoyed this much more than I did. I'm sor –"

Gabriella cut him off, "Don't be sorry, silly. Ryan hates – no, loathes Disney pop singers."

"Huh? Wait, what? We're talking about the same Ryan here right? Ryan Evans, the blond. He has a twin sister, wears hats, and likes musicals. He's in our homeroom along with a bunch of other classes. I'm pretty sure you've seen him around. I'll point him out for you next time I see him. You guys were dancing in the hallway after third period the day I agreed to come. That 'Who said …superman' song? People were staring. I was embarrassed. Ring any bells?" Troy was now more befuddled than ever.

There was a pause as Gabriella sat in her seat, thinking. Suddenly, she snapped her fingers as she realized what Troy had been rambling about. Her face reddened. "We just did that so you'd come with me." She admitted, whispering.

There was another pause as Troy sat in his seat, thinking.

Then he remembered.

Then he groaned, realizing his mistake and wishing he'd remember that event from five years ago.

-

-

_A twelve year old Troy fumbled with his lock, trying to get it to open as he stood in front of his beige-colored locker. He glared at Ryan Evans, who opened his lock two lockers down from his with ease. But there was something about Ryan that day. He and Ryan weren't as close as he and Chad were, but they talked occasionally. The boy's blue eyes were opened wide as he shook violently. Troy watched as Ryan cautiously, but casually, glanced around the hallway. Troy naturally assumed that the poor boy had seen a horror movie the previous night. But in reality, it was far worse than that (or so Ryan claimed)._

_Sharpay, Ryan's twin, flamboyantly skipped down the hallway, gracing everyone with her presence. Her hair was tied up in pig tails, and they bounced around as she started to dance. She was beaming …and singing. She was singing a tune that Troy found vaguely familiar. An equally flamboyant Kelsi joined the hyper blond after a few lines into the song._

"…_THIS IS WHAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF…__"_

_Sharpay and Kelsi sang. But the latter seemed to be tone-deaf, influencing her decision to become a composer later on in life as opposed to a singer. Ryan collapsed, trembling some more._

"_M-make it stop." He moaned, pressing his hands to his ears. He continued noticing the stare Troy was giving him, "She's been singing nonstop since she's seen the _Lizzie McGuire_ movie last week. At dinner, in the shower, in the morning and at night she …_hums _it. I've been asking her to stop, but she just sings louder, saying I have no taste in good music."_

_Sharpay and Kelsi broke out singing again, "…YESTERDAY MY LIFE WAS DULLER, NOW EVERY THING IS TECHNICOLOUR_..."

_Troy awkwardly reached out to pat the boy on the back reassuringly. He had gone through a similar experience. His eight year old next door neighbor, whose room was coincidentally right across from his, constantly blasted the peppy Hilary Duff songs late at night, bugging him so much he wanted to march right over to her house and punch her in the face, yelling 'SHUT UP'. His mother had forbid him from doing so. From then on, he stopped sharing his schemes with her._

"_I know, dude. I know."_

-

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Ryan did loath Disney pop singers. He had a fear of them ever since Sharpay started to like Hilary Duff a couple of years back. Ryan had even gone through therapy for a while to help him move on from the bad memories.

During his flashback, Gabriella started to sing again. Usually, Troy loved hearing her melodic voice. '_She has a voice like an angel's,_' he'd brag to his friends. But he didn't enjoy it when her voice was ruined, singing those dreadful songs from Hannah. He mentally kicked himself for not letting Ryan go. He should have been happy when the thespian offered, but no. Troy _had_ to be jealous, and take her to the concert instead.

Gabriella decided that the car was too quiet and sang louder.

"…If we were a movie, you'd be the right guy..."

Troy took three deep breaths.

"…And I'd be the best friend that you'd fall in love with…"

Troy counted to ten.

"…In the end, we'd be laughing, watching the sunset…"

Troy gripped the steering wheel harder.

"…Fade to black, show the names. Play that happy so-ong."

Troy squeezed his eyes shut.

"TROY, KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD!"

That wasn't a Hannah Montana lyric.

A split second later, what his girlfriend had screeched finally registered in his brain. He opened his eyes and was staring at the back of a black Audi that was close. Very close. He slammed on the brakes and both he and Gabriella were sent forward, their seatbelts preventing them from going any further, much to their relief. He breathed heavily.

"Are you alright?" He asked Gabriella, concerned.

"Fine, you?"

"I'm good. Sorry about that."

Gabriella looked down, avoiding eye contact.

"No, sorry for singing even though I knew you didn't lik – I mean …that you hated it. I'm sorry for getting so hyper about it." She apologized, sheepishly. "I've never been to a concert before. My mom was always too busy to take me, and I've always had quite a different taste from my friends. I'm kind of trying to relive my childhood now."

He smiled, "Its okay. If you take away Hannah, the …um, those brothers and the mob of fans, I really enjoyed hanging out with you."

Gabriella blushed and looked up again. "I like hanging out with you too. But if you add Hannah, the _Jonas_ Brothers and my fellow Hannah fans, it makes it all that much better."

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Author's note: Well, it may seem immature, but I hope you enjoyed that. I'm currently trying to make my stories longer. It's working, no? Troy and Gabriella are more friends in this fic – not a lot of couple stuff even though I wrote them as one, but I like it that way sometimes. I, myself, don't like Hannah Montana, and I'm sorry if I've unintentionally offended or mocked anyone by writing this. I've researched the tour dates and locations for the concerts and I don't think that she came to New Mexico. But let's just pretend.

…

Review; and check out my other stories? kthnx.


	2. Birthday

"Isn't it fabulous?"

"It's anything _but_ fabulous."

"Nonsense. I planned this party for you. You _will_ like it, Troy Bolton," the girl scoffed, offended. How dare Troy – well, anyone, not appreciate the fine work of Sharpay Evans? As soon as she heard through the grape vine at East High that it was the basketball captain's birthday, she immediately assigned herself the job of planning his party. After all, they were friends now since the whole midsummer's-night-talent-show fiasco.

The pair was situated in front of Troy's living room. He gawked at the sight of it. It looked like it had been decorated for a thirteen year old _girl's_ birthday, and he expected the rest of the house was decorated in the same manner. No wonder Ryan never invited people over to parties at his house. Surveying the room again, he would've expected his mom to do a less embarrassing job.

Hot pink streamers were strung everywhere. Coral colored paper plates and cups were neatly stacked at a refreshments table alongside…pink lemonade. Helium-filled metallic balloons of a variety of colors were tied to anything that would hold them down. And glitter. There was _glitter_ in Troy Bolton's house. That would have to go. Everything would have to go.

Sharpay smiled haughtily. "Never in my life have I planned a birthday party that people would actually want to arrive at. Since my birthday isn't for another five months, I took the liberty of arranging yours," she proudly continued, "you can thank me later."

Troy grunted. He wanted to kill the blond, but he couldn't get blood all over her hard work, now could he? Contrary to other soon-to-be eighteen year olds, he wanted a small get-together with close friends. 'Get-together' meaning date. And 'close friends' being Gabriella. But being the nice person she was, Sharpay had already invited over a bunch of schoolmates that wouldn't give him any time to himself.

"You're coming to the party, right?"

"I want to be there when everyone is commenting on what a good job I've done."

He wondered if she was serious or just trying to annoy him. Troy desperately hoped it was the latter. He thought everyone knew that pink, senior boys and birthday parties didn't mix very well.

"Then I think you should go uh...fix up. Get ready for it because girls take all that time, right?"

"You better not be implying that I look ugly now, but you've got a point. I'll be back in a couple hours for the party." She waved. "Tootles."

She strutted out of the room and he heard the faint sound of a door closing. Troy rubbed his hands together. He had three hours to dispose of all the pink and glitter. And after that he'd have to at least make his house presentable for the guests. Troy, the basketball captain, did have a reputation to live up to. He figured he'd have lost half his dignity when arriving at a Hannah Montana concert several months ago with Gabriella. He couldn't afford to have a Sharpay-decorated eighteenth birthday party. He'd never live through it.

His parents wouldn't be coming home until tomorrow afternoon as they were visiting Troy's aunt that was expecting a baby any day now. They apologized for missing their only son's birthday, but his parents knew he'd appreciate the time alone he'd get with his girlfriend.

Quickly pulling out a garbage bag to collect all of the pink glittery items, Troy searched his mind for an excuse for Sharpay about their absence from the party. How she worked that fast at setting up, he didn't know. But he could only wish she were here to help him tidy up. Troy could've called over some friends, but they wouldn't be able to help while laughing so hard at the sight of the Bolton's house they were practically on the floor.

* * *

The door bell rang.

Troy was surprised he could hear it over the loud music blasting from his living room. In preparation for this evening's events, he had blocked off the entrance to the stairs as he didn't want anyone in his parents' room or his room under the influence of alcohol. He opened the door and his expression brightened when he saw who had been behind it.

"Happy Birthday, Troy!" A petite brunette threw her arms around him and planted a soft kiss on his lips. Stunned and forgetting where he was he wrapped his arms around her waist before being interrupted by an amused voice. "You guys do know that I'm here too, and standing outside, I am quite cold."

"Sorry about that, Taylor." Troy grinned as he and Gabriella parted to let the African-American girl enter the house.

She handed Troy two wrapped presents and he accepted them gratefully. "One's from Gabriella. Happy Birthday," Taylor chirped before sauntering off into the crowd of dancing people, presumably to find Chad.

Troy turned his attention back to the girl in his arms. She was dressed pretty casually, receiving a last minute invitation from an intentionally-forgetful Sharpay. He himself wasn't dressed in proper party attire either, having no time to change after the clean-up and preparation. He noted that she looked pretty – no, gorgeous anyways.

Troy had called Ryan in advance and explained his position with Sharpay. He didn't have the experience of lying to her and was unable to think of an explanation. Surprisingly, Ryan handled it. They had come early, being the fifth and sixth guests. With Ryan's talent, Sharpay seemed unfazed by the pink-less house.

A few moments later, Troy let out a heavy sigh as someone (who he recognized from the drama club) bumped into him, spilling her drink. Already intoxicated, all she did was put a hand to her mouth giggle and stumble away. Gabriella followed him upstairs where he changed his shirt. Sensing his discomfort, she hugged him tightly. "Something wrong, birthday boy?"

"I never wanted this...the party, the music and the people. It was all Sharpay's doing." He shrugged, "All I wanted was some alone time with you." Troy collapsed on his bed and covered his face with his hands letting out a muffled groan. He started to retell the story of what happened prior to her arrival, "She came over here and just started to throw pink stuff all over my living room. She had invited all these people unbeknownst to me. So I had to clean up the pink and set up for the party. I'm not in the mood to go back down there."

She squeezed his hand tightly. "You want to get away, right?" He nodded. "Then come with me." She attempted to pull him up.

"I can't leave my own house, Gabi."

"You can and you will. I won't have you being miserable and moping on your own birthday. It should be special," she insisted.

"Where will we go?"

"Anywhere."

She dragged a reluctant Troy out of his room. Politely asking Ryan to supervise everything, she continued to drag him until stopping at a place Troy visited everyday. He looked, dumbfounded, at his surroundings. He looked around again; there was nothing special about it, nothing to do here.

"You want to hang out on my driveway?"

"I thought becoming a year older made people smarter." Gabriella laughed. "Get in the car; we're getting out of here." He proceeded to follow her instructions.

"Where do you want to go?"

His stomach growled.

She laughed again and Troy grinned, loving the sound of her voice. "Do you just want to get pizza and crash at your place?" he asked.

"Sure," she agreed.

* * *

After a pizza-and-movie-filled hour and a half, Gabriella motioned to Troy to come with her upstairs. "I want to show you something. I found it last week, but it's been a while since you've been over and now I can finally show you." She hastily ran to her room with Troy following suit. They arrived at her bedroom which was, of course, always neat. Gabriella threw open the French doors and smiled.

"Gabriella, I have seen your balcony before, remember?"

"No, not my balcony. I've figured out a way to get up onto the roof. It's quite comfortable up there, a perfect place to come and think. Also, we seem to have a thing for roofs. There aren't any flowers, and there's no bench, but it's pretty amazing." Troy watched as his girlfriend heaved herself up on the top of her house, using the railing of her balcony to help her. Much to Troy's dismay, Gabriella hadn't decided to wear a skirt that day. He was surprised at how strong and brave she was as he peered at her from bellow.

"How'd you find it? Is it customary for you to just clamber up on roofs of your houses? Are you a singer, dancer, freaky math girl and Santa Claus? I don't think we should be up there. Too dangerous." He shook his head as she patted the space next to her.

Troy hesitantly looked at an impatient Gabriella. "I can't climb," he stated, but she could clearly tell he was nervous. "You've scaled my tree before, Troy. I've done this many times. It's perfectly safe, and there's this breathtaking view…" she trailed off from her perch on her house's roof. She glanced down at him.

"But that was a tree. And it's not like I stayed up on it for a while. It only took a few seconds."

"Take a risk. Remember the concert?" She asked, bringing up the traumatic memories, hoping to prove a point.

"Yes. And how exactly did I benefit from Hannah Montana?"

She didn't reply, or rather, ignored him as she stared up at the sky, sighing. He was still fiddling with the rails of her balcony, debating whether or not to risk his life and possibly get rewarded by his girlfriend or have a safe roof-climbing free birthday.

He chose the first option and hoisted himself up beside Gabriella. He looked down, spotting the grass that seemed oh so far away and gulped. "If I fall and die today, I just want to tell you that I love you, Gabriella."

There was silence.

Honestly, he was expecting a laugh or a giggle…or something other than silence. It was a joke. He had wanted to lighten the situation, make himself feel more comfortable by telling attempting to say something humorous. Oh, God, he wasn't funny, was he? Troy mentally kicked himself. He was so sure that Gabriella was going to dump him on his birthday, realizing she had an embarrassingly not-funny boyfriend.

"Gabriella?"

"I –"

"I'm so sorry. I will never try to be funny again. That was a bad one wasn't it? Please don't dump me. At least wait until tomorrow – when it's not my birthday. If you thought I was serious, I wasn't. I joked about the falling and dying part. I'm not that bad of a climber, it's just that –"

"I love you, too, Troy."

He stared at her. Gabriella had her random moments, but she had just blurted out 'I love you' to him. No wait, she had said 'I love you, _too_' that meant he had said it first.

"Crap, I didn't mean that."

She looked taken aback. Her eyes sparkled with tears. "So…y-you _don't_ love me?"

"Crap, I didn't mean what I said like that. I meant …well, I do love you, but if you're uncomfortable or anything, I'm sorry. What I said didn't register in my mind, and I thought I said it at the wrong time, and if I did say it at the wrong time – "

Repeating her actions from before, she interrupted his ramble again, grinning. "I did say it back, Troy. You don't have to worry."

No other words were exchanged as the couple leaned against each other, both smiling to themselves now that they've both admitted their true feelings.

Troy broke the quiet by whispering, "In that case, this has been the best birthday I've ever had."


End file.
